(I’ve included our costs for food here to help others understand the relative expense. We ate several lunches using bread and peanut butter.)
We took advantage of Icelandair’s direct flight from BNA to KEF, stopping in Iceland for five days, six nights before traveling onto The Netherlands . We design travel based on our diverse interests: my husband is a geology major, and I’m an artist. The Netherlands trip report will be filed in a few days.
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We splurged on premium seats, booking eight months in advance, and the expense was worth it to us. Since we had two distinctly different trips and went direct , checking our three bags made sense. I slept for four hours, and woke to the aurora over the North Atlantic. Upon arrival a beautiful blustery grey day greeted us. If one arrives from a non-Schengen country, planes park on the tarmac, passengers get on a bus and are driven to the lower level of the terminal. Signs indicating where to go were very clear. Passport control was easy, as was claiming our bags. What wasn’t easy was getting coffee. We made the mistake of going upstairs and were told we HAD to be served in the non-Schengen lower level. Coffee and a pastry $9.92.
Picked up our Toyota Aygo at Blue. Small snafu in getting there. It should’ve been less than a five minute walk to the Blue rental site, but a combination of tiredness and exhilaration had us stumble onto an unnecessary shuttle bus. Once rented, full insurance, all packed, we drove to Reykjavik, trying to follow Google’s directions, getting lost once, and somewhat stressed once we hit the city. I was not expecting sprawl. We finally got into the old town, lucked into a two-hour parking spot, checked into Hotel Centrum.
Advice for future travelers: download the Country’s parking app, Parka, before you arrive It works for the Golden Circle as well as Rejkavik. Our room was ready an hour before check-in, so DH parked as I lugged our bags totherooom.
Had Saeta Svinio gastro pub lunch (fish soup, lamb shoulder sandwich with loads of fries), $76.33. Sustained, we ambled through the town, enjoying murals, the crisp air and architectural details. Picked up bread, peanut butter, cheese and some at Kronan, along with some eucalyptus gum (who knew?) $44.76., Back to the hotel, then down to the harbor, enjoying the ships and drizzle.
For dinner Siri guided us to an excellent vegan restauran, Vegan World Peace, nicely spiced Tom Yum soup, great tofu salad, $42.64. Back to the hotel and a lovely sleep.